Colfax and Dead Part 3 Chapter 3

A bus helped me get quickly from one side of town to the other. Normally after taking a job I would rest, cash the check and make sure it cleared. Sometimes do a little background research on the person hiring me to ensure I wasn’t being thrown under a bus. This job was different, I could help Karen and while I knew it wouldn’t buy me her love, I’m sure it would ease the tension between us. Perhaps it will help me forgive myself.

Hurrying across town I watched the nightlife along Colfax. The other six people on the bus were probably like myself, living and possibly dying on this street. I got off the bus near a popular music venue, The Bluebird. Signs of Danger had played there a couple of weeks ago. There were some other acts preforming tonight, I lined up at the ticket window to purchase a ticket. After a minute of waiting I was at the window and they asked for some money, I reached for my wallet and felt one of the guns I was carrying. I feigned forgetting my wallet and backed out of the line.

I started heading around the block to find a good place to stash both of my handguns and my boot knife. There on the corner plying her body was a young lady in her twenties dressed warmly but scantily for the weather. The jeans only had a few holes in them that looked more due to fashion than wear, her jacket had seen better days and was being worn more as a cloak than a jacket. At least she wasn’t wearing heels in this cold, her shiny black combat boots poked out enough from her pants that I could see the buckles and straps. I continued heading towards an alley when I stopped and had to turn around. Her boots looked brand new. Hopefully she could be another source of info as I resumed my walk towards the alley parking lot.

Once in the  back parking lot I found a dumpster and after looking around in it stashed my holster and it’s gun under some trash. Then looking around to ensure no one was watching I pulled my boot-knife and cut a small hole in my abdomen. There I pulled out some gauze I stuffed in there and my hidden snub-nose revolver. I stashed the revolver in a different dumpster and then walked back towards the lady on the street corner.

Taking great care to exit the parking lot on the opposite side of the lady I walked until I got to the sidewalk. I pulled out a little business card I had made up a while ago with my cell number on it. Then I walked towards the venue, paused and turned around to walk towards the lady. Once I was twenty feet away she looked at me and smiled. At ten feet she spoke, “Hey, darling, you looking for some fun?” I smiled at her and nodded and got close enough to her I could speak quietly and not be overheard.

“Look, I need information.” I asked her politely and held up my business card.

“I can only help with one thing hun, you want to party or talk?” she asked while tilting her head to look around my left side towards the venue.

“Your clothes and manner say party but your boots say vice. I’m looking for a missing person, he may be someone who partied.” I replied and thrust my card towards her. She hesitantly reached for the card and snagged it. I didn’t want her to waste a whole night so I loudly complained, “What! Twenty is all I have, you’re not in Littleton, lady. Twenty is all you get on Colfax.” I saw her smile a little before she threw back on her mask.

“Twenty is what I charge normal fella’s, You get the ugly tax!” She replied then she turned away from me and walked away from me. I tried to look dejected and sighed as I turned back towards the Bluebird to see if I could talk with some people in there. I didn’t recognize the bands who were playing tonight. At the window I pulled out a twenty and handed it towards the guy behind the glass but he gave me a weird look. He said something but the people and noise around me drowned it out. He then pointed upwards at a sign on the window, “SOLD OUT!”. I pocketed my money and backed away from the window. Then started walking down Colfax towards Holly street.

I stopped after two blocks and remembered I couldn’t go back there. I had been sleeping out on farms but sleeping on the ground made it difficult to wake up, sometimes days would pass by before I woke. Since I was close to Tony’s apartment I walked up Madison St towards the building he lived in. There was only a single entrance to the building in the front. Next to the double doors was a call box with unit numbers next to the buttons. I pressed the one for Tony’s place to see if I could hear it ring. After a minute of nothing and not wanting to chance calling another unit I wandered around and down Cook street to scout it out a little. The cameras on the side of the building and well lit parking area did not help any.

I considered hiding and trying to tailgate someone entering the building. This late at night the odds were the police would be called for suspicious activity or I would get shot by someone thinking I was there to rob them.  Shot by someone, oh shit, it was then I remembered I left my guns behind the fucking music venue. Avoiding a curse I jogged back towards Colfax in order to retrieve my weapons from the dumpsters.  I knew then it was going to be a long night.